Browsing by Author "Alanko, Akipekka"

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other pervasive developmental disorders has been growing for decades. This results in an increasing amount of special needs in the school environment. ASD is a neurobiological disorder which particularly occurs as problems in reciprocal social relationships and communication. The emergence of reciprocal interaction is a key factor in a successful supporting process. Previous studies show that attending music therapy may improve social skills for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Thus, including applications of music therapy in the supporting of students with ASD could be beneficial, but the lack of recent studies about feasible applications in the school environment is notable. The purpose of this study was to examine the methods and effectiveness of music therapy interventions carried out in a school environment to support children and adolescents with ASD. Alternative instruments to support learning are researched in this study. The study was conducted as an integrative literature review. Five methodologically differing international and scientific articles were chosen for this review. Concrete descriptions of used methods and their effectiveness were researched. The collected data was categorised and synthesised to answer the research questions. The results indicated a broad range of musical methods which all belong to one or more of the following categories: individual or group therapy, receptive or active therapy, communication based or learning theoretical therapy. Positive effects were identified in the field of joint engagement, teacher-student relationships and socio-emotional skills in general. In comparison with ordinary teaching methods, musical methods didn’t seem to produce any better results in terms of academic skills. This study shows that long-term and communication based applications of music therapy in the school environment can be useful for supporting children and adolescents with ASD.